Weekly sheep and cattle market wrap
21 April 2022
Key points:
- Softer yardings across the nation are impacting indicators
- Medium cow prices are at their lowest since July 2021 but remain higher than this time last year
- A seasonal softening of slaughter rates for cattle, sheep and lambs has been recorded but slaughter volumes are still stronger year-on-year.
Indicators
The Eastern Young Cattle Indicator (EYCI) has softened 14¢ week-on-week to 1,072.49¢/kg cwt. This is after a 61% reduction from last week in the number of head reporting due to Good Friday and Easter Monday, which limited saleyard throughput.
The Western Young Cattle Indicator (WYCI) does not have any head reported this week as the Muchea Cattle sale on Monday did not go ahead and the Mt Barker sale took place on Thursday.
Medium cow prices are continuing to soften, reaching their lowest point since July last year at 299.1¢/kg lwt. This is a drop of 27¢ week-on-week – however, prices are still higher year-on-year by 22¢. Similar to the EYCI, yardings have softened by more than 50% week-on-week and could be impacting the accuracy of the indicator.
Feeder steer prices have also softened week-on-week by 13¢. A 31¢ and 42¢ premium on the national average occurred in Dalby and Roma respectively. These saleyards are in the top three saleyards for contribution, with Dalby contributing 21% and Roma contributing 19%. The higher-than-average contribution from these saleyards is, again, due to many cattle sales not going ahead with the shorter trading week.
Sheep
Light lambs
Light lamb prices have strengthened 44¢ week-on-week but yardings have softened 3,270 head week-on-week. Forbes contributed the highest percentage at 46%, with a premium of 17¢ on the national average.
Trade lambs
Trade lamb prices have bounced back to 799¢/kg cwt after hitting a low of 765.8¢/kg cwt two weeks ago. Higher demand from processors is pushing the price of these lambs up. A 10% increase in sales were recorded in this market as they compete for the seasonally lower supply.
Slaughter
Goat slaughter has strengthened 112% week-on-week from 27,576 to 33,528 head.
Meanwhile, slaughter volumes for cattle, sheep and lambs have softened, as is seasonally expected with the Easter holidays shutting down processors.
However, slaughter numbers are still stronger year-on-year, with cattle slaughter nearly 20,000 head higher than this time last year and lamb slaughter 90,419 head higher year-on-year.
Saleyard update
Sales that did not go ahead due to Easter Monday: Mortlake, Dubbo, Toowoomba, Forbes (cattle), Pakenham, Wagga Wagga (cattle), Tamworth, Bendigo, Muchea (cattle), Corowa, Ballarat (cattle).
Other sales that did not go ahead this week: Swan Hill Market.
The Monday sales will also not go ahead next week due to ANZAC Day.
